There are serious issues with our health care system and evenmore question as how to fix it. Accountable care organizations aimto directly address the problems plaguing health care, includingcost, quality and satisfaction. They’re also an integralcomponent to health care reform. But are ACOs the way togo?

For years, the U.S. health care system has been called broken.Health care costs continue to spiral upward, outpacinginflation, and the quality of care has been lacking, even amongprimary care physicians. Given these issues, health care consumersare struggling to get the care they need at an affordable rate.

To counter this broken system, the Obama administration passed the controversial Patient Protection and Affordable CareAct in 2010, and a portion of that bill focuses on integratingaccountable care organizations, which are beginning to garner moreattention for how they can possibly change the market.

What are ACOs?

Despite the new inclusion of ACOs in health reform, there isstill a degree of confusion as to what an ACO exactly is. LisaMcDonnel, senior vice president of network strategy and innovationat UnitedHealthcare in Minnetonka, Minn., explains that ACOsare evolving in response to the worries about growing health carecosts as well as the variations in health outcomes, and thesemodels allow both employers and consumers to play a more proactiverole in how their health care is purchased and delivered.